SpiceJet Deemed The Best Fit For Tigers Expansion Plan

Tuesday, 19th March 2013 at 02:16am

In 2007, Tiger Airways made news unheard of in India before when it launched flights to Singapore from the country's southern cities at rock-bottom one-way tickets worth $50. And that's inclusive of taxes already.

Recently, Tiger Airways has made another sort of news in India, this time flying the domestic skies.

The short-term plan hatched by the Singapore-based budget airline is to establish an interline arrangement with a local carrier. The agreement, initially, will allow clients of both airlines book flights through a partner airline. From there, the agreement may evolve into a more advanced partnership wherein both airlines join their resources for single marketing and distribution schemes.

If Tiger Airways find it necessary to go beyond interline agreement, it will formally enter the local market by investing in a local carrier.

But before that happens, the low-cost airline has to build up a strong business case to support its expansion strategy in the local travel market. The carrier is planning to strengthen its foothold in India by opening more routes from the country to the tiny island-state of Singapore. The carrier has been serving six southern cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Tiruchirapalli and Thiruvananthapuram to Singapore, 35 flights a week with an 80% load factor.

Strong Player

Tiger Airways, according to travel industry experts, would always find it easy to fill its seats with its routes between India and Singapore as the tiny island nation has been a premium destination for over a million Indian travelers. The competition in the budget travel category between India and Singapore remains a two-player affair, that of Tiger Airways and the home-grown IndiGo.

Tiger, for years, has been catering to niche market in India flying with them visiting friends and relatives between the two countries. But that will change soon as Tiger plans to establish an interline agreement with a local Indian airline, enabling the budget carrier to offer more options to its travelers on destinations across India.

Tiger Airways is slowly taking inroads into the budget travel market in the region with its acquisition of a 33% stake in Indonesia-based Mandala Airlines early last year. Immediately after that, it bought a 40% stake of SEAir, a Philippine-based budget carrier.

India Game Plan

Though still considered a medium-size player among the titans, with a fleet of only 20 aircraft, Tiger is on its way to becoming a formidable competitor in the region with the recent acquisition of stakes in two foreign carriers.

Its short-term plans for India is, of course, the start of something grand that looms ahead. The airline is seeking to establish itself as a major player in the budget travel market in India which would enable them to connect Indian travelers to as many destinations across Southeast Asia and Australia.

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